Seige of Darkness
by Kryslynn
Summary: Kale Allerion, The dragonkeeper, is kidnapped just days before she is due to give birth to twins. Her husband, Sir Bardon, and her young son, Penn, are captured as well. While in captivity, Kale gives birth and the children, including Penn, are taken.


Sir Bardon paced the length of the tiny room; his worn boots kicking through the thin layer of straw covering the ground, his patience was wearing thin, despite the Emerlindian blood flowing through his veins. A scream cut the air, he whirled and moved quickly, covering the two short steps to the door in less than a second. He yanked on handle again, he knew it was a futile endeavor, but he did it anyway. A single frustrated cry tore from his throat, "Kale!"

Bardon tried to reach Kale with his mind, pleading with Wulder to let him contact her, he could vaguely feel her presence and she was in pain, what were those pieces of Grawlig snot doing to her?

He threw himself against the iron reinforced door over and over again until he collapsed with exhaustion, the all too familiar agony of the stakes shooting down his spine. The stakes was a childhood disease that he had contracted as an adult, and that still flared up now and again, stiffening his joints and making any motion painful. If only Kale were here. Why had they taken her? What could they want? Her cry split the air again and Bardon slipped into a state of Semi-consciousness.

Tears streamed down Kales normally placid face. A female Tumanhofer named Karataralee handed the first child to her husband, Takminanden, and then placed a hand on Kale's knee, "Push dear, its coming." Kale screamed and pushed one last time, collapsing against the tiny straw-stuffed pillow. Little Penn stood tethered to the wall off to the left. He was straining against the chain and crying, arms out stretched towards his mother. A scared looking female Ropma called Leaf stood there shifting nervously back and forth and trying to quiet him.

Kale strained against the iron brackets securing her wrists to the bed, but her struggles were weak. Karataralee wrapped the second child in a blanket and held it close to her chest, "both are girls, milady."

Kale cried sparkling tears that betrayed her light wizard essence, "please, you can't let him take them; Wulder only knows what he will do to them."

Karataralee averted her eyes, "I know all too well, milady, but there is nothing I can do." The tumanhofer's gaze intensified, becoming almost pleading, "Nothing!" Karataralee curtsied, one hand holding the hem of her skirt, the other cradling Kale's child, "I must go now," She said, and then retrieved the second child from her husband and carried both from the room. Takminanden stood for a moment before taking a small device out of his pocket, he walked over to Little Penn, who has ceased crying and was only whimpering now. Takminanden pressed the device to the side of Penn's neck and a soft _hiss_ was heard before the child collapsed into his arms. Kale lay there in shock, "Wh-What did you do to him?" Takminanden adjusted his grip on the sleeping toddler, "I injected him with a mild sedative, so he will sleep. I must go now, I assure you, your son will be cared for."

Kale shrieked, "No! Leave him alone, he's not even two yet!" Takminanden walked stiffly and almost reluctantly out of the room.

Kale's thin, malnourished body sagged, she felt like she needed to vomit, but she couldn't let herself, she had to get her children and get away, she had to find Bardon, she opened her consciousness and probed for his familiar presence, she found it, he was alive, but he wasn't responded to her mental prodding. She reached out to Penn's mind. She could feel it, but he couldn't feel her, as Takminanden had said, he was asleep or unconscious, she couldn't tell which.

Kale tried every spell she could think of to rid herself of the restraints, but it did little good, something felt different about it each time. Her body was weak, her talent was failing, her children would be subject to the horrors of a life without Wulder and there was nothing she could do about it, a tear rolled down her cheek. _Wulder, Please, if it be your will, save my children. _

At that moment, several large, red orbs of light burst out of nowhere, Kale sucked in a breath and closed her eyes as the intense light struck her retinas. She automatically tried to bring her hands up to cover her eyes. A shadowy cloaked figure moved forward sinuously, the ebony cape swaying around the figure's slender form. It stepped forward, silhouetted by the red glow. Kale wrenched herself upright, yanking furiously against the brackets, "Who are you!? What do you want with my Children?!"

The figure threw back its hood, profiling long tresses in the red light, a spark of green glinted from the blackness of the shadow, and light laughter bounced around the cavern. The color of the light orbs shifted, moving first from Red, to purple, to blue and green, finally settling on a pale yellow hue. They moved and attached themselves to the ceiling, effectively illuminating the entire room. A blonde O'rant woman cloaked in black stood in the center of the chamber, green eyes sparkling beneath perfect lashes.

"Kale! Darling, how are you, dear?" A smile split the young woman's flawless face and flashed some of the whitest teeth Kale had ever encountered. "How _am _I!? Are to truly going to ask such a question?" The woman pouted, "Oh dear, I was truly hoping we could get along"

Kale shook her head, "I highly doubt that, now, who are you, and where am I?"

The young woman's laughter sprinkled the air once more, "I am Ada Ree, and this," She opened her arms in a gesture of Welcome, "is my home." She opened her hand, gesturing towards Kale, her perfect fingernails highlighted in the subtle glow, suddenly; the brackets snapped open, releasing Kale's wrists and granting her much needed movement. Kale stumbled from the bed, massaging her wrists and leaning heavily on the wall. A coughing fit racked her body. When the spasm ceased, Kale stared at Ada and spoke, her gaze piercing and her voice low. "Ada, if you really were my friend you would not have taken my children!"

"Oh but I had to, they were in danger, the twins would have been scarred for life and Little Penn is in need of much reeducation. Also, Sir Bardon is at the moment overcome by a relapse of The Stakes, I can cure him. And look at you, my poor, poor pet, dear Kale; you are in no condition to be nursing children, twins nonetheless."

"We don't need your help; we were abducted by _you_, and are being held against our will."

"Nonsense," Ada smiled again, her tinkling laughter filling the room, this was getting annoying. "I did nothing, I am your rescue, come with me, and all will be well."

Kale stared, "I don't think so."

Ada Ree's manner changed in an instant, "Then you are so much more the fool!"

The orbs of light glowed crimson again, and before Kale could so much as breath, Ada was there, her previously shoulder-length golden curls, black and bolt straight and fell to her waist, her gorgeous green eyes now flashed red. Her right hand closed around her prisoner's throat. Kale gagged and struggled against the iron grip. A small silver device appeared in her hand and Ada pressed it to the side of Kale's neck. The device hissed softly. Kale wrenched away, wobbling dangerously and choked out, "What did you do to me?"

Ada tossed away the device and stepped back, "Oh, nothing much. Just a mild suppressant."

Kale's face filled with horror as she tried to contact Bardon again and met with an impenetrable mental resistance. "My talent…you couldn't."

"Oh, but I could."

Kale darted to the door and pulled on the handle. She tried to invoke her talent in wizardry and met with the same barrier.

Ada laughed once more, but this time, it was drastically different; a low and sinister chuckle rising quickly to a maniacal cackle.

By some unspoken signal, two immense Bisonbeck guards were summoned, they each seized one of Kale's arms and turned her around to face Ada, who strobe forward and ran her fingers sinuously along Kale's chin. "Do you believe me now? Do you understand now? I. Am. In. Control! I control you, your children, and your beloved husband."

"NO!" Kale pulled fiercely against the Bisonbecks' grasps, but they didn't move, they're strength rock-solid! Without warning, one of the Bisonbecks twisted Kale's left arm behind her and when the young wizardess cried out in pain, Ada smiled. Kale struggled fiercely against them, fighting her captors both physically and mentally, but the barrier did not move, neither did the Bisonbecks.

The two emotionless guards maneuvered Kale effortlessly, and times lifted her completely from the ground, carrying her over to the center of the room where two posts now stood with short chains hanging from them, the brackets open. The bed had completely vanished; more wizardry. The person doing this, Ada or whoever, really knew what they were doing.

In a haze of tortured non-reality, Kale was aware that the guards had placed her between the two posts and were now snapping the manacles closed around her wrists. A secret mechanism was activated and the chain was reeled short until Kale was pulled up on her tippy toes, her arms spread in a perfect "Y" shape above her head. As Ada approached her, Kale lost consciousness.


End file.
